Characteristics of children and adolescents with multidrug-resistant and rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis and their association with treatment outcomes: a systematic review and individual participant data meta-analysis.

Background: There are few data on the treatment of children and adolescents with multidrug-resistant (MDR) or rifampicin-resistant (RR) tuberculosis, especially with more recently available drugs and regimens. We aimed to describe the clinical and treatment characteristics and their associations with treatment outcomes in this susceptible population.

Methods: We conducted a systematic review and individual participant data meta-analysis.

Leptospirosis, melioidosis, and rickettsioses in the vicious circle of neglect.

The global priorities in the field of infectious diseases are constantly changing. While emerging viral infections have regularly dominated public health attention, which has only intensified after the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous bacterial diseases have previously caused, and continue to cause, significant morbidity and mortality-deserving equal attention. Three potentially life-threatening endemic bacterial diseases (leptospirosis, melioidosis, and rickettsioses) are a huge public health concern especially in low- and middle-income countries.

Retrospective cross-sectional study on bronchiectasis in adult Aboriginal Australians: disease characteristics and comparison with ethnically diverse global bronchiectasis registry cohorts.

Background: Globally, adult Indigenous people, including Aboriginal Australians, have a high burden of chronic respiratory disorders, and bronchiectasis is no exception. However, literature detailing bronchiectasis disease characteristics among adult Indigenous people is sparse. This study assessed the clinical profile of bronchiectasis among adult Aboriginal Australians and compared against previously published international bronchiectasis registry reports.

Study of Children Aged Under 2 Years Admitted With RSV at Four Australian Hospitals [2021-2022].

Aims: Primary aim was to review severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) hospitalisations caused by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in children aged < 2 years in paediatric hospitals in Australia. Secondary aims included RSV subtyping, assessing RSV seasonality and contributing to the World Health Organisation's RSV surveillance programme.

Methods: We prospectively reviewed the medical records of children (< 2 years of age) with a confirmed SARI who were admitted to one of four major Australian paediatric hospitals and had a respiratory sample analysed by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR).

Acceptability of intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in pregnancy with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine plus dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine in Papua New Guinea: a qualitative study.

Background: In moderate-to-high malaria transmission regions, the World Health Organization recommends intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy (IPTp) with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) alongside insecticide-treated bed nets to reduce the adverse consequences of pregnancy-associated malaria. Due to high-grade Plasmodium falciparum resistance to SP, novel treatment regimens need to be evaluated for IPTp, but these increase pill burden and treatment days. The present qualitative study assessed the acceptability of IPTp-SP plus dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (DP) in Papua New Guinea, where IPTp-SP was implemented in 2009.

Provision of continuous renal replacement therapy in children in intensive care in Australia and New Zealand.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to describe current use, clinical practice, and outcomes of continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) in children in the intensive care unit (ICU) in Australia and New Zealand.

Design: retrospective, binational registry-based cohort study and electronic survey of clinical practice.

Setting: ICUs that contribute to the Australian and New Zealand Paediatric Intensive Care Registry and a survey conducted in November 2021 including ICUs accredited for paediatric intensive care training that provide CRRT for children were part of this study.

Osteomyelitis and Septic Arthritis in the Darwin Prospective Melioidosis Study.

Background: Melioidosis is a multisystem infectious disease caused by the environmental bacterium . Osteomyelitis (OM) and septic arthritis (SA) are uncommon primary presentations for melioidosis but important secondary foci, often requiring prolonged therapy and multiple surgeries. We characterized the epidemiology, presentation, treatment, and outcomes of patients from 24 years of the Darwin Prospective Melioidosis Study (DPMS).

Unusual Causes of Death Due to Constipation.

Constipation is found in individuals with intellectual disabilities, autism, and cerebral palsy. Although generally a benign condition, it may lead to life-threatening intestinal obstruction, with or without volvulus, or to stercoral ulceration with enteritis and/or perforation. Two unusual cases of lethal chronic constipation are reported to demonstrate other very rare fatal mechanisms that may occur.

A phase II trial of larotrectinib in tumors with NTRK fusions or extremes of NTRK mRNA overexpression identified by comprehensive genomic profiling.

Background: TRK-inhibitors have demonstrated efficacy across several cancers with NTRK fusions. Their activity in cancers with NTRK overexpression remains unclear.

Methods: This trial enrolled patients with advanced cancers harboring NTRK fusions or extreme mRNA overexpression, defined as NTRK1/2/3 expression by RNA profiling >5 SDs for a given cancer type.

Intergenerational risk of preterm birth in First Nations Australians: a population-based cohort study from the Northern Territory, Australia.

Background: PTB increases the risk of health problems such as chronic renal disease and diabetes in later life and adverse impacts are inversely correlated with gestational age at birth. Rates of PTB in the Northern Territory (NT) of Australia are amongst the highest nationally and globally, with First Nations babies most affected. This study assessed the magnitude and potential drivers of intergenerational PTB recurrence in the NT.

Interventions aiming to improve menstrual, sexual, reproductive, and mental health among out-of-school girls: a systematic review.

Purpose: Out-of-school adolescent girls (OoSGs) can lack education on menstrual, sexual, reproductive, and mental health (SRMH) and be more vulnerable to SRMH harms. Targeted interventions could reduce these risks. We assessed interventions and their effectiveness among OoSGs globally.

A clinical approach to chronic respiratory disorders in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians in primary care.

Background: Chronic respiratory disorders in the adult Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population are common, but there is a sparsity of literature detailing an approach to clinical management.

Objective: This paper describes a clinical approach to chronic respiratory disorders for clinicians working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, particularly in the remote Australian context.

Discussion: There are significant differences in the way chronic respiratory diseases manifest in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people compared with non-Indigenous Australians.

Is Respiratory Viral Infection an Inciting Event in the Development of Melioidosis? A Systematic Evaluation of Co-infection With and SARS-CoV-2 or Influenza.

Respiratory viral infection may increase infection with progressing to clinical disease (melioidosis). This data linkage study evaluated associations between melioidosis and SARS-CoV-2 or influenza. Among 160 melioidosis cases, there was no difference in risk factors, vaccine status, or disease severity between 17 with viral co-infection and 143 without.

Applicability and Validity of the "Bronchiectasis Severity Index" (BSI) and "FACED" Score in Adult Aboriginal Australians.

Background: The prevalence of bronchiectasis is significantly higher among adult Aboriginal Australians (the Indigenous peoples of Australia) compared to non-Aboriginal Australians. Currently, there is no well-established tool to assess bronchiectasis severity specific to Indigenous peoples. Nor has the applicability and validity of the two well-established bronchiectasis severity assessment tools - The "Bronchiectasis Severity Index" (BSI) and "FACED" scale been vigorously tested in an Indigenous population.

Optimising risk stratification in diabetic ketoacidosis: a re-evaluation of acid-base status and hyperosmolarity using observational data.

Accurate assessment of severity in diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) can optimise early management and facilitate prioritisation for high acuity care. The primary aim was to evaluate the relationship between severity of acidosis (considering pH, bicarbonate, and anion gap) and hyperosmolarity with hospital mortality. Secondary outcomes included intensive care mortality, mechanical ventilation, vasopressor/inotrope use, and dialysis.

A virus associated with the zoonotic pathogen causing human malaria is a member of a diverse and unclassified viral taxon.

The Apicomplexa are a phylum of single-celled eukaryotes that can infect humans and include the mosquito-borne parasite , the cause of malaria. Viruses that infect non- spp. disease-causing protozoa affect the pathogen life cycle and disease outcomes.

Aeromedical retrieval for suspected preterm labour or rupture of membranes in the Northern Territory, Australia: may some cases be safely not retrieved?

Background: Suspected preterm labour (PTL) and prelabour rupture of membranes (PPROM) are common indications for aeromedical retrieval in the Top End, Northern Territory, Australia, where many women reside remotely and preterm birth (< 37 completed weeks of gestation) is common. The primary objective of this study was to determine rate of delivery during the index admission following aeromedical transfers from remote clinics to Royal Darwin Hospital for suspected PTL/PPROM.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study of aeromedical transfers for suspected PTL/PPROM from 1 January 2020 to 31 July 2022 was undertaken.

General Practice Sleep Scale - The "GPSS" - A proposed new tool for use in General Practice for risk assessment of Obstructive Sleep Apnoea.

Background: This pilot study investigated a new simplified OSA screening tool that could be used in primary care/GP settings - the "GPSS" tool - "General Practice Sleep Scale" and compared against common existing OSA screening tools.

Methods: A convenience sample of patients attending the respiratory and sleep clinic in the Northern Territory of Australia were included if they completed the GPSS prior to undergoing a diagnostic polysomnography. The GPSS contained 9 questions to provide information on: sex, age, body mass index, neck circumference, snoring, witnessed apnoeas, morning tiredness, daytime sleepiness and presence of hypertension/diabetes/heart disease/depression.

Neurosurgery in Australia's Top End: the lifesaving advantages of developing sustainable neurosurgical care in rural and remote regions.

Objective: The authors' goal was to perform a retrospective audit of all emergency cranial neurosurgery performed at the Royal Darwin Hospital in the first 5 years of the unit and to compile their data in a similar fashion to an earlier study titled "Emergency Neurosurgery in Darwin: Still the Generalist Surgeons' Responsibility," which was published in 2015.

Methods: All emergency cranial neurosurgery performed by a neurosurgeon between 2017 and 2021 was identified. Data were extracted from the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre database.

Opportunistic post mortem scavenging by the terrestrial flatworm Platydemus manokwari.

Post mortem damage by predators varies with geography, climate, and location of cadavers. Frequently encountered facultatively parasitic terrestrial organisms include fly larvae (maggots), ants and beetles. This report describes for the first time opportunistic post mortem damage caused by the terrestrial flatworm Platydemus manokwari de Beauchamp,1963 (New Guinea Flatworm) (phylum Platyhelminthes: order Tricladida: suborder Continenticola: family Geoplanidae) to exposed skin of a body located in a tropical urban location.